Much Like Lightning
by thatonewriteroverthere
Summary: When (Y/N) is struck by lightning, she finds that a little more than her shoulder gets messed up. Sent back into time to meet the presumably fake Earl Phantomhive and his butler, the young girl finds herself tangled up in much more than she could have ever imagined. Falling in love with a demon is one, and him returning it is another. And the list only gets longer.
1. Chapter 1

"Dismissed." The professor giggles to the class. Her good wishes are washed out by bags being zipped and textbooks being slapped shut. (Y/N)'s strong gaze, however, remains stilled on the pouring rain outside; thunder shudders in through the shut windows... She would rather avoid driving in this kind of weather. It makes her hands shaky, tongue swell, and sweat collects on the surface of her skin... Sometimes the scars littered across her back even start to hurt. "(Y/N)?" The professor softly calls, her round glasses glaring because of the white light shining from the large lights above. Her slack mouth twitches, brows nearly melting off her face; (Y/N)'s stomach begins an acidic burn at the look she is giving her...

"I'm fine!" She put a smile on her face as well as she can.

"It's raining pretty hard out there..." The professor slowly speaks, "Want me to drive you back?" The students hands are soon in a flurry in front of her, heat popping into her cheeks.

"No!" She clears her throat and folds her hands in front of her, trying to collect the frantic thoughts swirling around her head, "No," Her soft voice comes out smoothly, "I have an umbrella." The old professor watches her with blinking eyes, waiting for (Y/N) to fill the silence. "Not a single drop will touch me." Her head begins to bob in acceptance, her back stiff and shoulders slouched; the young girl put it up to the teachers age, which is higher up in the numbers. "Have a good one, Professor Bennett."

"Good night, (Y/N)." The girl steps from the classroom, into the large, empty hallway. Through the doors she can see the glare of headlights passing by and can just barely hear the rain tapping the glass gently. From her black bookbag she pulls an umbrella out, and then takes to stuffing her headphones into her pierced ears and turning her music up loud enough to drown out all possible sound. The black metal of the door is cold on her clammy hands; she should put her hood up just in case - she even pulls at the ends of her hoodie to try and cover her hands from possible rogue raindrops.

"Hey." Is purred from her right, she closes the door that she'd begun to open, to meet the brown eyes of the boy wiggling his eyebrows at the hooded girl. She pops one of her headphones out with a twitch in her brow. "What are you doing tonight?" (Y/N)'s skin crawls as she tries to piece together what hiccup of a pickup line he's going to use this time.

"I'm..." Her (e/c) eyes dart to the left, "Going to study... I have a test in history this week. Skipped class too many times this chapter." Watching the way his eyes turn down and the color in his cheeks fade away would make any sweet girls stomach rocket into hell; lucky for (Y/N), she's a terrible human.

"Oh, well... Maybe we could study together?"

"Charlie, you're not in my class."

"I'm good at history."

"Then, maybe some other time." (Y/N) taps his shoulder in an attempt to be comforting, "Just, not tonight." Offering him a hesitant smile, she says her good-bye to him with a flimsy, "Goodnight Charlie."

(Y/N) isn't a big fan of liars. She's had too much experience with them, knowing all of the reasons, the tactics and strategies, and most of all, all about their consequences. It's obvious that while honesty can be a little more difficult, it's somehow way easier. That being said, she should also mention that she is a hypocrite, because she just blatantly lied to Charlie's poor face. Study? It probably would have been more believable if (Y/N) would have just said "Generic excuse" to him or something. She knows damn well what she's going to do tonight; it's almost a ritual at this point.

Unlocking the door to her car, she plops down into the seat and screeches about the leather seats of her car for about two minutes; summed up, they're bad in the winter because they're so cold and they're bad in the summer because they're too hot - all around they're bad. After turning her car on and letting the engine warm up, she finally works up the strength to pull the headphones out of her ears.

This time, for sure, (Y/N) won't have a flashback.

She clicks the car into drive and putters from the parking lot, leg pulling back from the gas peddle several times. The corners of her mouth bury themselves into her cheeks, stretching her dry lips into a concentrated line, and her brows stitch together. (Y/N)'s eyes never stutter from the lane - barely checking the lights - and every time a car hisses by, she turns her radio up louder and louder. Living so far away is a menace, especially for a girl like (Y/N); on rainy nights like this, after her classes, she turns into a danger to society and should be off the road at all costs. But, (Y/N) is stubborn. Determined to be self-sufficient... Anyways, there's nothing she should be afraid of.

By the time she pulls into her secluded driveway, her dinky car is about to fall apart because her music is so loud, and she look like she's been through ten world wars. Shaking hands spend a long while trying to unlock her front door. The longer she spends trying to unlock the door, the sound of the rain hitting the ground gets louder, and the harder her hands shake; (Y/N) puts a whole new meaning to trying to run away from the rain. Some girls run from it like it's life or death - for their hair, for their outfit, whatever it is - but for (Y/N), it is. Finally, _finally_ , the door swings open, and she tumbles in like she's just barely dodged a bullet. The girl sheds her wet jacket, hanging it up on the coat rack, her last name engraved on the top of it with some weird looking ducks on either side of it; (Y/N)'s mom has an obsession with them.

She smiles to the familiar faces saying their welcome homes, "I'm home, Mom, Papa." She heads for the living room, finding it surprisingly dirty for her tastes; she picks up the empty wrappers and the two plates on the end stand. "Gosh, we've kind of let the place go, huh?" (Y/N) calls. She starts the dishwasher and wipe up the kitchen counters before snatching a bag of chips from the pantry. Marching down the hall with a little less passion in each step forward, she stops in front of the thin table lining the downstairs hallway.

"You should be proud of me, Pops. I made it home tonight without a flashback." (Y/N) calls a little above a whisper. "I learned about show versus tell in creative writing today." She babbles, lighting an incense, and watching the smoke rise to the white ceiling, parting at the brown beams running horizontally across it. "I'll show you just how well I'm doing now. Watch over me." She stares at their smiling faces, stuck in that simple brown frame. Almost a minute passes in silence, until she whispers again, "I wish you could have made it home with me too." She swallows the knot in her throat and nods, forccing a smile to take hold of her trembling lips. "Goodnight, Momma, Papa."

"Sebastian!" She calls, clicking her tongue, and turning sharply from the table. (Y/N) shake the bag of chips, hoping he'd take it as a bag of treats. She didn't hear his bell tinkering towards her as she usually would for a minute, so she shakes it again. "Sebastian! Here kitty kitty! Let's go to bed," Peaking into every room as she heads upstairs to her bedroom, she grumbles under her breath, "Where the hell are you ya little shit?" She stomps up the stairs, opting out of tearing the upstairs apart looking for him quite yet; she should get in her battle uniform. (Y/N) steps into her cluttered room and pulls a new pair of floral pajama pants and a random t-shirt from her small dresser and then dresses sluggishly.

Chirping from the cage hanging in the corner of her blue room draws (Y/N)'s attention up. She smiles to the sweet blue bird staring at her with those endless eyes. His food must be out; he did eat a lot for such a tiny little thing.

"Hi, Ciel." She did get a little kick out of her dry humor every time she would snuggle into her bed with a good book in her lap, and Sebastian sitting on top of the dresser staring hungrily at Ciel. "Speaking of Sebastian," She begin, pushing his small bowl back into its place, which he flutters to instantly, cocking his head at the girl, "Have you seen him?" He squeaks back incessantly, to which she backs away with half lidded eyes and a lift in her upper lip. "Okay, you don't have to be such a brat about it." She steps into the hall and cups her hand around her mouth, calling for the black cat. The quiet girl checks all the rooms, but to her disappointment, her kitty didn't show up in any of them. Clicking her tongue again and glancing around as if he were hiding in plain sight, she finds herself at a loss of where her cat could've gone. And, just out of the corner of her (e/c) eye, she sees a little black dot sitting in her back yard. Her body is plastered to the window within a second, staring in the orange eyes of her soaked feline, sitting outside on her uncut lawn.

Panic soared through the entirety of the girls body as she tumbles down the stairs, nearly skipping every step and shoot through the back sliding door. "Sebastian!" She screams at her annoyingly calm kitty. His head flicks to look at the girl like she's disturbing his bird watching, and yet she still hustles to embrace him. "What are you doing out here? You scared me!" (Y/N) hugs him to her small chest as she turns away and looks at the library window, left damn near wide open. "That's how you did it, huh?" He meows up to her as she begins to head inside.

"I swear, mister, if I didn't know that that story was just a fairytale I'd almost insist you are Sebastian. It gives me the heebie-jeebies, ya know?" She babbles to him. "Still, I'm-"

Boom. It feels like someone punched her in the back of her head. Every muscle in her body tenses as her legs stop moving before she begins to fall forward. Blinding light is all (Y/N) sees in the reflection of her back door. Time seems to be slowed down as she watches the lightning retract from the ground behind her, and her kitty scrambles inside. Hitting the ground, the girl watches those orange eyes of Sebastian's turn back around and eye her in wonder.

What a weird cat.


	2. Chapter 2

Dripping...

What's dripping?

Rain... Right, it was raining before...

Before what?

...

Oh well...

Something stinks too... Oh god, is that (Y/N)? Is she the source of that strong smell of dirt, rain, sweat, and a faint hint of trash? The girl groans, trying to will her sore muscles to move so she could grab a shower. But that works against her too; the skin on her back screams at her to just fucking stop moving because it's threatening to tear in half with every movement. The smell of blood doesn't reach her nose until that moment. Where's that smell coming from?

(Y/N) pushes herself up anyways, despite every fiber in her being telling her that it was the worst possible idea. She lets out a raspy sob as that aching pain spreads to the rest of her trembling body. She opens her eyes, finding that darkness is all that welcomes her. What? Is she blind now too? She wouldn't put that past her luck.

Her trembling hand - covered in dirt, she can feel the pebbles against herr wet skin - reaches to her back to find the shirt burned away, and hanging on by little threads... And the skin of her back, bumpy, torn; she can't tell but something isn't right.

What the fuck is going on? (Y/N)'s energy to find out is practically sapped from her now that she's tried to check her upper back and found absolutely no answers. She doesn't even want to lay down, knowing how much pain that's going to send to her already twisting stomach.

"H-Hey." She calls to absolutely no one. Jeeze! She's in a very alarming situation, possibly in the basement of the new Ted Bundy, maybe in hell, and the first thing she think to say is "Hey"? "Where am I?" Who is she even talking to? Despite (Y/N) kicking her own ass over how stupid it is for her to be talking to no one in particular, she knows it's all she can really do. She doesn't want to move because of her back, but she also doesn't know what is surrounding her... Maybe it's like in the Saw movies where there's traps everywhere and if she moves an inch to her left she'll be eaten by sharks.

Heaviness sinks into her chest as her head falls; bad idea because even that movement sends pain down her spine. What is she going to do? (Y/N)'s face contorts as a sob rocks her battered body, and her hands try to take a fist full of the cobblestone ground beneath her.

"Please..." She whines through her childish crying. She can't help it, she's paralyzed in fear. "Help me." The girl knows that burn in her lungs anywhere as shivers run up her bare arms and her cold cheeks set on fire. The shortness of breath. The hollowing of her head, to where there's nothing up there except fear. The feeling of a bag being placed over her head, and she can't even tear it off to make it feel better. "H..." She huffs out, without breath. "Help me." She mouths. She keeps her eyes wide open, trying to see if light will come in the wider she holds them. "Help me." (Y/N) repeats just under a whisper. Can no one hear her? Another sob strangles the little breath she has from her.

(Y/N)'s desperate.

"Help me!" She screams, loud enough for God to hear her from where ever she is. Loud enough to feel like she tore the lining of her throat. "Help me!" She screams again. Is no one really going to come? Can no one really hear her?

Light. Just a little bit of warmth. Another person. Before she knows it, the only sound between her and that man is the sound of her sobbing. "Please..." (Y/N) drinks in the light pouring from around him, pushing away her tears with the dirty ball of her palms. "Help me."

"Fetch the master." The man whispers. "The woman has woken." Her breath leaves her as he moves to close the door.

No.

"Please..." The girl whimpers. But he tears his eyes from hers; what did that word ever matter, coming from (Y/N)'s chapped lips? She stares at where his sharp features once were; pink lips parted, blue eyes nearly falling from their sockets they were so wide, feet set apart as if he were ready for her to attack him like a rabid dog any second... He was... Scared of (Y/N)?

Her body crumbles under the weight in her chest. She wraps her arms around her head, cradling her throbbing body... Is this... How she'll die?

If this is all she'll be able to do with the extra time she was given, why didn't He just take her when he took her parents?

And she submits. What else can she do? What else can she do but cry? Cry and wait to die... It's all you she do now that she's chained somewhere in someone's wet basement.

"She's in here, My Lord." She hears before the door opens slowly, and another silhouette stands in it, watching her like she is a demon... Wait. A smile cracks onto her lips before it falls with another sob. She rubs away her tears aimlessly, relieved that her fear is shaking away into irritation. And then, she begins laughing... What the actual hell is this? Is this a joke? Is someone pulling a joke on her? What kind of fucked up joke is this? For Christ's sake (Y/N)'s back is burned all to hell - at least that's what she's going with - and they think now is a good time to play dress up?

"What the hell are you doing?" She snaps before the boy can even introduce himself. "You think this is a good idea? I'm wounded and you think it's a good idea to throw me in your basement and play around a little? You think it's okay to take just any girl who's passed out on the street and take her to play dress up?" The girl rants, tears still pouring down her face. The boy draws back, his face flabbergasted at (Y/N)'s explosive behavior. But she just don't care; she's hurting and she needs to be at a hospital. The boy sucks in a long breath through his nose, and opens his one eye to watch the girl strongly.

"My name is-"

"Ciel Phantomhive, yeah, I get it. And he's your butler Sebastian; he's a demon and you're sad. Great outfits, now let me out of here so I can get help." (Y/N) snaps angrily. Silence runs between them. "Please." She pleads strongly, tears still thick on her face, she shows him the chain biting at her reddening skin on her ankle. She looks up to them, and then to the red eyes on the butler; they look mighty convincing, though.

"How do you know my name?"

"Basically everyone knows the name kid."

"I'll cut you a deal," the boy begins, "You tell me everything you know, and I'll spare your life."

"Like what? The recipe to Martha Stewart's special christmas cookies?" (Y/N) cries at the boy. "Or would you like to know who killed your parents?" His eye widens greatly, but she could care less about how he's reacting to her harsh words. (Y/N) presses her hand over her eyes, and then pinches the bridge of her nose. "Listen, kid. I'll cut you a better deal. You let me go, and we'll call it even. You kidnap me, in return I get set free... No harsh feelings."

Yikes... This kid sure does take his costume seriously cause that sure looks like a real revolver pointed at (Y/N)'s head right now.

"Tell me what you know about my parents death." The girl's shocked expression quickly falls away to annoyance as her brows pinch together and her upper lip lifts in a slight snarl. She smacks his hand away from her, almost in a scolding manner, and points her finger at him, ignoring the gun skidding across the floor.

"You shouldn't be playing around with things like that! Guns are dangerous! You could seriously hurt somebody with one of those!" The boy turns away and walks towards his butler, who watches (Y/N) with unashamed amusement on his attractive features.

"Sebastian." The butler bows to the boys wordless command.

"Yes, my lord." Her entire being ices over as she watches the mans eyes begin to glow... Man... Those contacts... Are really... Those seem pretty real...

"Hey! You know what? Now that you think about it my back isn't hurting at all, "Lie, "So, I'll take your deal. But, maybe... We switch it up a little... Huh?" She glances nervously between the two. "You, Mr. Phantomhive, get me out of here, maybe give me a little Tylenol, maybe call off Mr. Sebastian too. And then, I will tell you everything I know. How about that?" She smiles up to the two, relieved to see the boy considering her proposal.

"Fine, but if you don't, Sebastian won't hesitate to kill you." (Y/N) sucks in a breath between her teeth.

"You know, I sure wouldn't doubt it. Mr. Sebastian seems to have good taste in souls to eat and people to kill." She nervously babbles as the butler chuckles at her and they leave.

(Y/N) heaves out a terrified breath as she's shut away in that darkness again; oddly enough she almost prefers this than having that boy and man in front of her interrogating her like that. If she's down here a little longer, surely she doesn't have any wounds deep enough that they won't scab over. So, she should be fine if she just plays along a little and then heads home after having tea; worst part? (Y/N) hates tea. But as her father used to say, life is hell, and then you die. So, suffer here, suffer there, and it all pays off!

Her forced enthusiasm dies as quickly as a stone falls when you throw it. What the hell is she going to do? What the hell is going on?

All in all, what the hell?

(Y/N) jumps as the door is opened, and the butler stands there with a candle, clean clothes, and medical supplies. Even better, (Y/N) thinks. She looks away from him slowly. He closes the door and walks to her, examining the burns across her back.

"My, my... What caused these wounds?" The girl sighs.

"Lightning."

"Surely not!"

"If you can be a demon, I can be struck by lightning, I guess." She listens to the butler.

"My lady, I merely one hell of a butler." (Y/N) giggles dryly.

"I've heard that one many times before, Sebastian." He begins to pull away the fabric from her skin, ever so gently. Silence engulfs both of them as he begins to clean her burns, much to (Y/N)'s agony. "So..." She forces out, "Are you really... Ya know... A demon?"

"Where would you get that idea?"

"Wild guess?" She turns to look at him, his red eyes surprisingly deep in the candlelight.

"If you believe me to be a demon, why aren't you scared?" The girl watches him and smiles before turning away.

"I think there's a lot more to be scared of than a demon..."

"Oh?" She nods and flinches as he begins to put some type of freezing creme on her back.

"Plus you don't strike me as the type of me to hurt a young lady over nothing." He chuckles as he begins to wrap bandages around her. She can feel the cold radiating off Sebastian's body, her tongue becoming thick as she thinks, perhaps... Maybe he isn't fake. Maybe this really is Sebastian Michaelis. The Sebastian whom she's been dreaming of marrying for years, the one who she's written cringy fanfiction for, and read even more of. That would mean, of course, that the Ciel she just met, is real too... And she was so unkind to him... After all he's been through. Her chest tightens even more and she grips her arms with white knuckles... She'll apologize if the situation calls for it. Then again, he might just be a brat and not deserve it.

"This gown is given by the queen. Will you need help dressing?" Sebastian asks. (Y/N)'s cheeks heat quickly as she takes the clothing gingerly and shakes her head. Stopping short, she looks at the corset, and the several different pieces... Is she going to loose all of her honor in one night?

"Sebastian?" She calls to his retreating form. Her head hangs as she tries to hide the blush rushing over her cheeks. Why she's embarrassed, she's not sure. After all, Sebastian has probably been with a lot of women, so it's not like he's never seen it before... And it's not like he'd be interested in (Y/N) in any possible sense. So, no worries, right? Wrong. Very wrong. Looking to meet his purring eyes, consumed in pleasure -if she is reading him correctly - with the way she's looking at him so shyly, is a huge mistake. But she can't take it back now. "I don't know how... Any of this works..."

"What ever do you mean?" He questions with a smile, which is more than just a pleasantry smile; he is enjoying himself... A lot.

"I've never worn a dress..." She looks away from him and to the ground before shooting her eyes back to his, "Like this, at least." She clarifies. He raises his eye brow. "I need your help." (Y/N) mumbles. He smiles, his eyes damn near started glowing with pleasure as he bows and assures her he will help her.

The girl holds her breath the entire time he dresses her, ignoring the goosebumps she gets when his hand brushes her skin, or the way he is standing just a little closer than he needs to be. Her eyes narrow; he's doing it on purpose.

"There." He sighs, stepping back to admire his handy work. The embarrassed girl grabs the candle and hands it to him with her lips pursed.

"Thank you." He takes it, his eyes on fire along with the candles. Sheesh, he sure does take amusement out of small things; like a child. Easily excited. (Y/N) shakes her head as she follows him from the room, down the hall up a stair case, a thousand turns, and she's standing in...

"Is this the... Royal Palace?" She wheezes.

"Of course." Sebastian assures as he leads her down a long corridor, lavishly decorated with gold and purple and portraits of nobles and royals. (Y/N) looks out the window and stares outside. Where's all the cars? Why are there only horses and carriages? She's plastered to the window, looking at the women in dresses and men in top hats and how no one had a cell phone out...

"Sebastian?"

"My lady?"

"What year is it?"

"1888." Her wide eyes, hollow in disbelief, turn to him slowly.

"You're sure?" He watches her, his expression blank of all emotion except the slight raise in his brow telling her that he thinks she's entirely insane.

"Of course." (Y/N) nods and swallows; this is not good at all. A nervous smile cracks across her lips slowly, and you she nods again.

"Right. I guess the strike must have shaken me a little more than I thought." That's a damn understatement. He smiles sweetly at her and begins to show her the rest of the way to the large drawing room, where Ciel and the queen sit, chatting over sweets and tea.

"My dear! I am so very glad to see you awake! And to see you looking so beautiful in that old gown of mine warms my heart greatly! You must be very tired. Please, come and sit. Let this old woman get a good look at that face of yours." (Y/N) stares at the silver haired woman, the crown on her head; the girl doesn't know how to act around a queen. Shoot, she barely even knows how to act around other humans... Deciding to bow her head lightly and take the seat the queens gloved hands are held out to, (Y/N) watches Ciel with a critical eye. This boy in front of her has the ability to end her life in a second if he wishes it. And he is also so unnaturally adorable she could just pinch his cheeks and scream.

"Are you hungry?" The queen asks.

"Not at all, your highness."

"Your accent, you're from the colonies?" Mouth in a thin line, she nods and smiles shyly.

"How did you find yourself here on the outskirts of London?" (Y/N) looks down to the cup of tea being placed in her hand by Sebastian. She swallows thickly before turning her eyes back to the queens and smiling away the confusion.

"On a boat. I remember that! But, my lady, I forgot entirely what I came to visit for."

"Oh dear! How troublesome." Sipping the tea with a sour face, (Y/N) puts down the cup just as Temaki from Ouran Highschool Host Club taught her, pinky first, turn to the side. "What is your name?"

"(Y/N) (L/N)."

"You must not have a place to stay." (Y/N) shakes her head and looks to her hands.

"I do not. But, I'll find my way!"

"On my honor I should not leave you to brave those cold streets alone, being as cute as you are you'd be snatched up by hungry wolves in the matter of seconds!" The queen scoffs before taking a bite of her cookie.

"Your highness?" (Y/N) asks, confused by what she means.

"You know Earl Phantomhive well. He explained the situation to me fully. You were to come here and see him on business, but you went missing as soon as your boat landed. Since you have forgotten your duties I shall send you to stay with him so he may enlighten you. He will watch over you well, I know it." Drawing her mouth into a thin line, the girl looks to the sneering boy with half lidded eyes; it's too much.

"I couldn't impose on him so!" (Y/N) tries and deny him with waving hands in front of her, but Sebastian silences her quickly.

"It is our honor to have you." The girl meets their eyes; ah, the deal.

Staring at her hands, (Y/N) decides now is your turn to move her first chess piece. He wants to know everything he can about future events. Using her knowledge to her advantage, and she'll be safe... However, if she's too quick to talk, she might ruin the entire timeline. From all the sci-fy novels she's read, she knows how detrimental it is that she doesn't alter events. Guidance. Play hard to get. She smiles at the two with shut eyes.

"Of course." The butler returns (Y/N)'s smile; she's screwed.

Unequivocally screwed.


End file.
